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I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how clumsy I am… wish I could say I wasn’t, but as my mother has been fond of saying over the years “you’re an accident waiting to happen, just like your daddy!”. What can I say, she’s right.

Unfortunately for me, this time I’ve really gone & made a mess. Suffice to say, I managed to fracture & dislocate my metatarsals (in layman’s terms, I’ve broken my foot) as well as tear all my ligaments. One surgery & three screws later, I am slowly but surly on my way to becoming RoboCop.

It has been rough, more than rough, & being confined to my bed & couch for three weeks have been testing my sanity. Still, every day, there is a small but noticeable mark of improvement. Thank god for the small favours. I have another month in crutches before I’m allowed to try & walk, & three more months before the surgeon goes back in to remove the hardware.

Still, it could be worse. Just have to remember to be patient & take it one step at a time.

There is good news to all of this. A recipe in fact….

A friend of mine is a nutritionist, & after extensive complaining to her that the pain meds I’m on give me incredibly freaky dreams, but that coming off of them is absolutely not an option, she shared with me some advice on what I could eat that would make it all better.

Now, I’m a big believer in healing my body through food. Over the years it’s been very clear to me that what I eat has the ability to affect my mood, complexion & general health. So going a step further to think that I can ease some of my symptoms through a smoothie, really isn’t a far reach for me. Two days & two smoothies later, I can honestly say that I have given up my afternoon dose of painkillers & anti-inflamitories & not experienced anything more than a slight discomfort. Let me assure you, this was previously not possible before. Not unless you wanted me to be reduced to the sobbing tears of an infant.

So here it is… for anyone in discomfort who would like to try an alternative to over-the-counter drugs… here is the smoothie that has made my afternoons bearable once again.

Directions:1. place it all in your blender & turn it on for several minutes. I let mine run for a while to make sure there aren’t any chunks, the last thing I want is to be chewing on a piece of celery. Once done, drink it immediately.

Some of you might be cringing at the idea of drinking celery. I did. The truth is, that the pineapple & honey sweeten it so much that you don’t even notice, & the ginger adds a wonderfully spicy kick. It’s really quite delicious.

Personally, I highly recommend this to anyone & everyone, whether you’re sore from your exercise routine. In pain from an injury. Or just want a healthy snack.

Like this:

I had planned on posting these coconut pancakes up yesterday. I actually made them in the morning so that I could have a nice filling breakfast in preparation for the long day ahead….

Of course, as soon as I was done eating, I got called in to work.

I am beyond happy to report that this week I have been working alongside Eirini to help make the desserts for the wedding that happened last night. That’s right, 200 chocolate mousse & 200 mini strawberry pavlovas.

Yesterday, all our work paid off too. Yesterday, I got to put on some fancy chef whites & work alongside Vangelis (from Chili Catering) doing the mies en plas for the event.

12 long hours on my feet & a non-stop go-go-GO approach & it was FANTASTIC!

I had the time of my life!

So clearly, there was no time to share my filling pancake breakfast. Thank god for that breakfast too since I didn’t have a chance to eat anything else until 01:00 the following morning…. where I stood quietly in the shadows stuffing my face with left over dolmades & sipping on a cocktail from Baba that Vangeli had brought in as a little treat for the staff once we were done. What a night!

So here I am, sleepy on a Sunday morning, planning to melt on the couch the entire day with my feet up, feeling the warm summer island breeze coming through the open doors, the sun light hitting the floor & a little take-out to sedate my hungry stomach…. & now I have to tell you how wonderful my little chocolate chippancakes were.

Light, fluffy, filling, slightly sweet from the bitter chocolate & honey, completely gluten-free, dairy-free & sugar-free…. but nothing about them makes you feel like you’re lacking or missing out. They are what they are. & what they are, is delicious.

I’ve been back in the kitchen recipe testing. Not so much for the blog, but because Eirini & I (the girl I made the strawberry & mint macarons with) are trying to come up with dessert proposals for a few upcoming events.

She came over to the house the other day so that we could make a mess in the kitchen & figure a few things out. Prior to her arrival, I found myself wondering around the green grocers picking up fruit & asking it to speak to me for inspiration. Finally, I settled on peaches, apples & black cherries.

Good thing I got the cherries too! As soon as I showed them to Mel, he picked them up & started going on & on about caramelizing them in balsamic vinegar & honey….

My mouth was watering. Not to mention I was overcome with joy since as you may or may not have noticed, but it’s been a little while since he’s participated in anything other than eating when it comes to the site.

I let him have his way & complete artistic license to do his own thing. I managed to contribute by whipping up a batch of pâte sucrée to turn into tart shells & also a chantilly cream to fill them with.

There they sat, ready & waiting whilst I watched him prepare all his ingredients & put a huge knob of butter into the pan.

I love it when he cooks.

Is it wrong of me to say that I love him especially when he cooks? Cause I do. Not to mention I’m a tad envious as he has this raw talent for it.

I’m afraid that in todays post, the picture just doesn’t do the dish justice. It’s a shame really, but I only had a limited opportunity to photograph it & in that time, I was lacking all inspiration.

I wont deny you the recipe however. If you make it & take a better picture, show me… I’ll amend the image above & link it back to your site with a glorious, glowing review of your beautiful work.

Some things, good things, take time to reach their optimum level of perfection.

This would be one such thing.

Vinegars take time to age & mature. You can’t just dump ingredients into water & expect it to become miraculous over night. The microbes & magic need their time to work, & they really do take their slow, sweet, leisurely time!

I can tell you how this all came about though. Mel & I have been hired over at a boutique hotel on our island (Syros) to be the amazing in house chefs. I’ve got the morning shift, serving up breakfast, brunch & pastries… & Mel is on dinner & cocktail duty. Seriously, we’re the magnificent cooking duo & we got hired as a team!

Can you tell I’m stoked?

Any way, in the process of designing the menu (all food items were done by a michelin-star chef, all cocktails & desserts will be by Mel & I) the chef designing the menu asked me to whip up a pear vinegar to be incorporated into the menu….

Like this:

Ahhh… back to our favorite combination, cheese & a starch. Before we went gluten free, I had a favorite italian pasta place I used to eat at where I always ordered the same ravioli dish time & again. It had an amazing cheese & lemon filling, with thyme & a creamy sauce. However the place fell victim of the curse that seems to be plaguing me… the very same curse that is causing all my favorite places to close down. I need to stop picking favorites it would seem.

…I don’t want to get into making homemade ravioli with gluten free flours just yet, I’m lazy & it’s going to take a lot of experimenting. So I’ve taken a different approach to get a similar result & this is what I came up with.